A favourite painting of
mine, is the famous “Charge at Beersheba” by artist Septimus Power.
I can’t walk by it without stopping to view the intricate detail of
the work.

The painting holds significant interest to me, as I have
walked the famous charge route many times. One figure stands out alone.
Who was this man?

Barrie Watts-Phillips was
born in South Australia in 1878.

Life in the latter part of the 19th
century was hard and a kid from the back-blocks had to be just as hard,
simply to survive.

Sgt Barrie Watts-Philips –
top soldier, top man.

Barrie
Watts-Phillips in 1915 prior to embarking for Gallipoli.

The mystique of battle in
a far off land appealed to the lad, so putting his age up by a few years
he enlisted in the 5th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, bound
for South Africa and war against the Boers.

Life on the African Veldt
was hard for the mounted troopers. Water was scarce, food was bland and
the elusive Boer commandoes were first rate troops.

They were the
masters of hit and run tactics – their only problem was that our
blokes had their measure and soon began to dominate the local
countryside.

Young Barrie relished
life as a soldier. He felt equal to the older men with whom he shared
the hardships of combat. He was strong, lean and ready for the fight,
wherever and whenever it may come. And come it did, fast and furious,
but the young trooper was more than up to the task.

Sickness was a common foe
on both sides and Barrie did not escape its clutches, when malaria
hospitalised him in Johannesburg. As the war sputtered to an end, Barrie
Watts-Phillips decided to remain in South Africa. The lure of quick
money in the abundant goldfields appealed to his sense of adventure.

He secured work in the
massive Johannesburg mine complex known as “The Angela Deep”. Long
hours and back-breaking work was Barrie’s reward. The pay was good but
the conditions were shocking and Barrie had had just about enough. He
rallied his fellow workers and took the management to task by leading
the first white miners strike in South Africa’s history.

It was now 1906 and South
Africa was again in conflict – this time the famed Zulu nation was
rebelling in nearby Natal. Never one to back away from a stoush, Barrie
joined a local mounted unit known as Roystons Horse.

In what many thought
would be a strictly one sided affair, the irregular units went about
putting the Zulus back in their place – the only thing was no-one told
the Zulus that they’d be a walk over and the proud warriors gave as
good as they got. During an ensuing action, Barrie Watts-Phillips was
shot in the left side of the face. The wound was serious and the doctors
worked hard to repair the damage caused by the bullet.

As he began to heal, the
doctors reviewed their handy work on Barrie’s face – “Not bad if I
do say so myself” the doctor said jokingly, “Don’t worry trooper,
you’ll still get the girls in.” The natives looked on Barrie with
awe – a man who had been shot in the face and lived to tell the tale
was someone to be revered – they nicknamed him “Unn Farnes” or
Stone Jaw.

Barrie returned to
civilian life and continued to knock about South Africa. He took up a
job as a sparring partner for the world middleweight champion, Eddie
McGorty, and his challenger, Jimmy Clabby, as they prepared for their
bout. He gave a good account for himself but after a few weeks of this
he really wished he did have a stone jaw.

In 1908, he secured work
on a steamer bound for Australia, via Singapore. Landing in Adelaide, he
heard of lucrative work in the Gulf of Carpentaria. As he stood in a pub
he spoke of his impending trip with a group of fellow drinkers.

“How you planning to
get up there, mate?” one of them asked. “On that!” he replied,
nodding towards the ancient looking push-bike. The group broke into
laughter - the only one not laughing, was Barrie.

Feeling his icy glare,
one of them stated – “you’re not joking are you mate – you’re
really going across Australia on that?” “Too bloody right I am!”
“Well you’d better get this into you then” one said, handing him
another beer. And travel to the Gulf he did, straight up the Burke and
Wills track.

He worked at a number of
jobs, including jackaroo, cook and fencer. In northern Queensland, he
was a gun shearer, where he “Rang the Bell” for the most sheep
shorn. He returned to Melbourne a few years later and got married. The
couple settled in Albert Park, where Barrie secured work as a commercial
traveller. He remained an active member of the Australian Natives
Association, a lodge type of organisation bent on maintaining the
principals of Australian life and culture.

In 1914, the onset of war
saw Barrie Watts-Phillips back in uniform. Enlisting in the AIF, he was
allocated to the 8th Light Horse Regt. With his experience, he was
quickly promoted to the rank of sergeant in B Sqn.

The Regiment sailed for
Egypt in early 1915 and continued training at the Light Horse camp on
Cairo’s outskirts. As the infantry and support troops of the 1st
Division marched out, bound for Gallipoli, the troopers of the Light
Horse were jealous. They knew that they were every bit as good as their
“gravel-crushing” cousins – all they craved was for a chance to
prove it.

Their chance came soon
enough though, as casualties in the peninsular began to rise. As the
word came down to prepare for embarkation, Barrie Watts-Phillips swung
into action. He rallied his men and laid down a few ground rules as to
what to take and what to leave. He was a firm taskmaster and his men
respected him for it. They knew that he’d always give them a fair
shake but heaven help them if they crossed the line with him.

Gallipoli was not the
adventure the young diggers expected. This was war at its worst – kill
or be killed. The only problem was that the Turks held most of the high
ground, hence most of the advantage. Barrie seemed to be everywhere. He
was always on the look-out for his men and saw to it that they had
everything they needed to wage battle. He scrounged additional food,
water, bombs and ammo. He’d roam the trenches, offering advice to the
younger blokes on how to stay alive and how to make the best of the
harsh conditions. He kept up an incredible pace, which soon began to
take its toll on his system.

It was now August 1915
and the bloody stalemate of trench warfare continued. A British landing
was planned further up the peninsular at Suvla Bay. To cover the landing
a series of diversionary attacks were to occur along the Anzac front.

The infantry would attack
at Lone Pine, the Kiwis would attack and seize the heights at Chunuk
Bair and the Light Horse would conduct two charges – one at Russell
Top and the other by the 8th, 9th and 10th Regiments, at a place called
the Nek.

The Nek was a narrow
bridge of land, flanked by two steep gullies – it was a natural choke
point. The diggers knew that they had to take it but the Turks also knew
that they had to hold it. The Turkish machine-guns were positioned with
interlocking arcs of fire. Every bit of the ground was covered by fire.

The attack at the Nek was
scheduled for the pre-dawn darkness of August 7. The regiments drew lots
to see who would have the honour of leading the charge – the 8th won.

As they moved into the
trenches, some of the men of the first wave joked with their mates.
“This is just another stunt”, one said “we’ll get in and rip
their guts out with this,” thrusting his bayonet and rifle forward.
Others jockeyed for position, so as to go over the top with a mate. Then
came the silence before the barrage. Some sat silently, some prayed,
others fought back tears, some tried to scratch out a hasty message to
loved ones but now, nearly to a man, they took time to reflect on the
seriousness of the situation.

Barrie moved among his
men, dishing out a double ration of rum. “Remember boys, nothing up
the spout, we’re going over with the bayonet,” he said as he made
his way along the trench. “We’re the first wave, so we’ve got to
keep moving and push forward.”

The pre-assault barrage
commenced right on time. Round after round slammed into the Turkish
trenches as the barrage gain intensity, then suddenly it stopped,
several minutes earlier than expected.

Orders were questioned
– do we go now? Do we hold? Was there to be another blast of
artillery? The Turks now streamed back into the forward trenches and
prepared for the expected assault. Then came the whistle blast to send
them on their way – right on time and right into the gates of hell.

They only had to charge
40 metres to reach the enemy trenches – most didn’t get more than 10
metres before they were cut to pieces. Some didn’t even get over the
lip of the trench. Barrie ran forward, coaxing his men on. He felt the
tug as bullets ripped into his equipment cutting it free. Suddenly he
was alone, dropping to the ground he took stock of the situation. The
first wave of 150 men had been cut to pieces. He’d had every piece of
equipment blown off him and the next wave was just about to come over.

He was powerless to stop
the carnage as the second wave charged and met the same fate as the
first. Wounded and dead now littered the battlefield. In a scant five
minutes, the 8th Light Horse Regt almost ceased to exist.

By mistake, a third wave
of the 10th Light Horse also charged. A couple of the diggers almost
made it to the Turkish trenches before they too, were cut down. A
smaller fourth charge took place in daylight 30 minutes later in a
futile gesture. It barely made it over the parapet.

In a matter of minutes
234 men were killed and more than 140 wounded, in an area a little
larger than two tennis courts. Ever so slowly, Barrie Watts-Phillips
made his way back to the safety of the trench. The Turks took a few pot
shots at anything that moved but somehow they missed him.

Watts-Phillips took stock
of the situation. The time to grieve would come later. He had work to
do, to get the wounded back to the rear and prepare for a possible
counter-attack by the Turks. He worked around the clock for the next
three or four days and was on the verge of exhaustion when the
Regimental Medical Officer stepped in.

He wrote, “This man Sgt
Watts-Phillips can not continue active service, for weeks he has stuck
solidly to his work although I wished him to go away. He is an excellent
man but he has now reached the limit of human endurance and I must
strongly urge that he be evacuated. He is no longer fit to do his
work.”

Barrie was evacuated to
Malta a couple of days later and then to England. He discovered that
he’d been recommended both for a commission and a decoration but he
received neither. He did, however, receive a Mention in Despatches, for
his work at Anzac Cove.

In London, Barrie was
approached by the noted war artist, Septimus Power, who asked if he
could do some sketches of him. Barrie agreed and thought nothing more of
it.

Barrie was able to
recuperate enough to return to the regiment in March the following year.
He was detached to the 3rd Light Horse Training Regiment as a Temporary
SSM with his rank confirmed sometime later. He secured a posting back to
the Regiment as the SSM of A Sqn – he moved to C Sqn some moths later,
again as the SSM. Detachments to and from the Training Regiment
continued over the ensuing months.

Barrie was not with the
regiment when it went into action around Beersheba and returned to the
8th in January 1918 as the SSM of his beloved B Sqn. As the war in the
Middle East spluttered to a close in October 1918, the 8th took up
garrison and patrol duties. Barrie was appointed as acting RSM in early
1919, before he embarked for home in June.

With the unveiling of
Septimus Power’s now famous painting “Charge at Beersheba”, in the
1920’s, Barrie Watts-Phillips realised one of the sketches of himself,
which was done in London, was now part of the famous work.

Barrie Watts-Phillips
resided in the Melbourne suburb of East Malvern. He was just as tough in
his older years as he was as a younger man. In the late 1930s, he
attended the Anzac Day march in Melbourne. It was the best turn out of
late 8th Light Horsemen for many a year, with numbers attending in the
hundreds.

As they enjoyed a few
quite beers in Young and Jackson’s before the march, the clock ticked
ever closer to form-up time. At the given moment, Barrie Watts-Phillips
and another past RSM and good mate “Bunny” Nugent took charge –
“Right you blokes, finish up your drinks and get yourself outside and
formed up, ready for the march”. Some of the hard-nuts who had decided
to forgo the march and settle in for a morning’s drinking, looked
around at the pair. They quickly thought better of their plan and
finished their drinks and moved outside with the rest of the regiment.

Barrie
Watts-Phillips passed away in 1956, aged 78.

A great deal of thanks for this story needs to go
to my mate, Cam Simpson, the author of Maygar’s Boys, who provided
me with the information on Barrie Watts-Phillips.

Originally printed in ARMY News, The Soldiers
Newspaper.

It gave me great pride to see my maternal
grandfather featured in this web site. A few points. The picture
contained in the story is not Barrie. I will obtain a picture and email
a copy. I was the person who supplied Cam Simpson with the detail on my
grandfather for his book Maygar's Boys. I attach a bit
more detail that may assist from an excerpt of my own family history.

For
war heroes and adventure you couldn’t go past my maternal grandfather
Barrie Watts- Phillips. I am not sure where the
Watts
came from but it was from somewhere on my Grandmothers side. The
hyphenated namewas used
sporadically over the years and was dropped altogether in the Forties.
Barrie was born in
South Australia
in 1878. He served in the Boer War in 1901-2 in the 5th Battalion
Commonwealth Horse. He stayed on in
South Africa
after the war working in the Deep Angela Mine gold mine where he
reportedly helped start the first miners strike in
South Africa
. He re-enlisted in 1906 in Royston’s Troop and fought in the 1906
Zulu rebellion in
Natal
.

He
was wounded in the face during this insurgence by a gunshot after which
he was nicknamed "Unn Farnes" (Stone Jaw) by the natives. He
was a sparring partner for Eddie McGoorty, the then World Middle Weight
Champion who defended his title in
Johannesburg
in 1908 against Jimmy McClabby.I
have since trawled boxing records on the Internet and whilst there were
several fights between these two combatants there was no record of a
fight in
Johannesburg
. However both fighters came to
Australia
at various times, McGoorty at about the time of the "bout" in
South Africa
. This could have been part of a world tour.

Anyway
Barrie returned to
Australia
via
Singapore
in 1908, and spent time in
South Australia
, his birthplace, during which he laid claim to the first man to ride a
bike up the Birdsville Track. I am unaware how far he rode but it’s a
pretty good story.

He
came to
Melbourne
in 1910 fell in love and became engaged to a lady until he met her
sister and decided that she was the better option, dumped his fiancée,
and married Daphne Reeves my Grandma. Mum was born on what was to become
Anzac Day eve in 1913.

Barry
enlisted as the first call of duty echoed from
London
on
21st September 1914
and joined the Light Horse. Because of his Boer war experience he became
a Sergeant in B Squadron of the Eighth Light Horse. The Eighth Light
Horse trained at Broadmeadows for some four months and was shipped to
Egypt
early in 1915. He landed on Gallipoli in June and was one of the leaders
who jumped out of the trenches leading the second charge at the Nek that
has been made famous in the film ”Gallipoli”.

Ian
Jones in his book ‘The Australian Light Horse” Time Life Books 1987
describes the battle, "At 4.30 am the first line of the 8th Light
Horse leapt over the parapet, and the waiting Turkish trenches exploded
in a blizzard of rifle fire and crossfire from an estimated thirty
machine guns………..one man watched the first wave running across the
skyline suddenly grow limp and fall as though the men’s limbs had
become string".

Barrie
took six bullets in the second charge and lay on the battlefield until
night when he crawled back to the Australian lines. He was Mentioned in Despatches
being recommended for a Commission in the Field and a decoration for
gallantry but nothing was forthcoming. The day after the battle when a
roll call was taken only 47 answered out of a total of 550. Of the total
figure, 318 were from the 8thof whom 154
were killed and 80 wounded.

Grandpa
was evacuated to
Malta
on
12th August 1915
, five days after the battle, due to physical and mental breakdown. From
Malta
he was hospitalised in the
UK
on
19th September 1915
. He rejoined his Troop in
Cairo
on5th March 1916. All told, he spent over eight months hospitalised for
wounds suffered at the Nek. On his return he was appointed Squadron
Sergeant Major of A Squadron of the 3rd Lighthorse. He was further
hospitalised for almost six weeks in October 1916. I am unaware of the
reason for this hospitalisation.He
transferred back to the 8th Lighthorse in January 1918 as Squadron
Sergeant Major of B Squadron but was once more ill and was evacuated to
a rest camp on
12th October 1918
. Shortly before return to
Australia
he was appointed acting Regimental Sergeant Major of the 8th Lighthorse.

He
observed, but did not participate in the Charge at
Beersheba
in 1917 which as it turned out was the last mounted troop charge in
modern warfare. The Australian Light Horse took on Turkish artillery
stationed in
Beersheba
catching them by surprise so much so the Turks were constantly lowering
their gun sights as the troopers charged and the Turks continued to fire
over the charging heads of riders and horses. The Light Horse overtook
the fixed Turkish positions and eventually the town of
Beersheba
. In spite of my Grandfather not taking part in the charge the artist
Septimus Power painted his face as the only recognisable face, leading
the charge, in the painting “The Charge at Beersheba”, which now
hangs in the War Memorial in Canberra.

He
returned to
Melbourne
in March 1919.Life in
East Malvern
was going to be pretty dull after Barrie’s last four years.